Super Rugby Pacific Hits One-Third Mark: Key Matchups & Storylines Await
Super Rugby Pacific Hits One-Third Mark: Key Matchups & Storylines Await
Super Rugby Pacific reaches its one-third mark this weekend! Don't miss key matchups, including Moana vs. Chiefs and Blues vs. Crusaders - live on FloRugby.
We will cross the one-third mark of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season this weekend, though there’s a lot of rugby left to be played before the playoffs get into full swing.
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A pair of derbies are on the docket this weekend in Oceania’s top rugby union competition, and the action isn’t slowing down anytime soon, so strap in and put FloRugby on as many screens as you can to not miss a beat.
Here’s a look ahead at one big thing that you need to know about every Super Rugby Pacific match this weekend, with all matches being streamed live in the United States and Canada, exclusively on FloRugby:
NOTE: The Hurricanes are on a bye this week.
Chiefs At Moana Pasifika
A Moana Miracle?
Moana Pasifika raced out onto its bye week in Round 5 off of the back of an epic 40-31 takedown of the Hurricanes two weeks ago, with the pride of Pasifika rugby showing that despite its current last-place standing in the Super Rugby Pacific ladder, it can compete with anyone in the competition on its day.
Starting flanker and Samoa international Miracle Fai’ilagi, who had an injury-plagued 2024 season after a strong debut campaign in 2023, looked as ferocious as ever with a searing hat-trick that game, leading Moana to score 28 unanswered points against the Hurricanes to pick up its first win of 2025.
That being said, much more will be asked out of Miracle and Moana this weekend, however.
Not only do they return from their week off by hosting the current league leaders in the Chiefs, but Moana will be without both of the Saveas, Ardie and Julian, as the esteemed All Black brothers nurse hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.
Their departures, as both leaders of men and world-class talent, leave Moana as a massive underdog in Round 6, though if it does have a miracle within its squad this weekend, coach Tana Umaga knows where to find it.
Queensland Reds At Highlanders
Australia’s Best?
It’s been over a decade since the New South Wales Waratahs lifted the Super Rugby Pacific title aloft in 2014, being the last Australian team to date to be the league’s champion.
This year’s Queensland Reds squad might just be the Land Down Under’s biggest threat to end the country’s championship drought since.
Five players scored tries in a massive derby test against the Tahs last weekend, meaning the Reds passed with flying colors, establishing themselves as the third-place team in the table entering Round 6 and the top Aussie team.
Les Kiss’ men were exceptional in a tense environment in Round 5, but they’ll be a bit short-handed in their trek to Dunedin, as Tate McDermott, Liam Wright and Fraser McReight will be among those not suiting up against the sixth-place Highlanders.
In line with that news, however, Harry Wilson — already having been a captain for the Wallabies earlier in his career — now will be Queensland’s captain for the first time this weekend under the iconic roof at Forsyth Barr Stadium, where he’ll try to steer his Reds side to an always-coveted win on New Zealand soil.
Crusaders At Blues
Springer Show On Hold?
Rob Penney’s tenure at the Crusaders has been full of twists and turns, but his decision to sit winger Macca Springer for an upcoming big showdown at Eden Park after the round he had last weekend against the Western Force might be among Penney’s most dizzying moments at the helm.
The Crusaders ripped the Force apart for nine tries in a 55-33 demolition last weekend in Christchurch, as Springer was responsible for five of those scores, tying the late Sean Wainui’s Super Rugby Pacific record (set in 2021 with the Chiefs) for the most tries in a single match.
Conventional wisdom would point to the white-hot Springer toward being a shoo-in for the Crusaders’ starting XV against the defending Super Rugby Pacific champions this weekend, but Penney — who opts to have a strict rotation policy that prefers fresh legs over form — has chosen to instead place Springer on the bench with Chay Fihaki replacing him in the lineup.
To be fair to Penney, his selection strategy has seemed to work well thus far, as the Crusaders are back in familiar table territory (second place) after a terrible ninth-place finish by their standards a year ago.
Still, if the Blues make things difficult for the Crusaders’ attack this weekend as Springer rides the pine, fingers undoubtedly will be pointed Penney’s way.
Brumbies At New South Wales Waratahs
The Streak Lives?
A lot has changed in the world since the last occasion of the New South Wales Waratahs defeating the Brumbies.
Dating back to the most recent time the Tahs took a match against the Brumbies in 2018 — 13 clashes between them ago — in Australia’s oldest Super Rugby derby, the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika were four years away from playing a Super Rugby Pacific fixture, South Africa had two Rugby World Cup titles instead of four and COVID-19 hadn’t existed yet.
But if there was any season for the Waratahs to finally break their recent hoodoo against the club from the Australian capital, this might be the one.
Though they were largely run ragged in front of over 20,000 spectators in Brisbane against the Queensland Reds last weekend, don’t forget that the Tahs before that had rocketed to a 3-0 start (already eclipsing their 2024 win total) to the 2025 campaign after dubiously taking the wooden spoon in last place last season.
That being said, the fourth-place Brumbies don’t have any plans to give the Tahs a momentum boost, especially with Wallabies backrower Rob Valetini due to make his first start of the year after missing the first five matches in recovery from a hamstring tear.
Fijian Drua At Western Force
Force Fizzling Out?
After back-to-back wins out of seemingly nowhere to start the 2025 season, the Western Force are on a three-game slide and out of the playoff picture, reaching a low point this past weekend against the Crusaders when the Force allowed in nine tries — including a joint Super Rugby Pacific-record five from Macca Springer and three from Sevu Reece — on a nightmare day in Christchurch.
That’s the bad news as the Force shift back to Perth for Round 6, but here’s the good news — they’re facing a Fijian Drua side that’s allergic to winning away from Fiji.
The Drua’s now 18-match losing streak on the road already was rough entering their match last weekend in Canberra against the Brumbies, and it got even rougher after they let Len Ikitau go for a hat trick and lost flanker Motikiai Murray for the next three matches after he was handed a suspension due to a dangerous tackle late in the match.
One of these streaks has to end (barring a draw) at HBF Park this weekend, and the Force will get some much-needed help with five Wallabies returning to the starting XV: Ben Donaldson, Dylan Pietsch, Hamish Stewart, Carlo Tizzano and Nic White.
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